Birthday
by darkestboy
Summary: 12 Doctor and several companions as 11th Doctor tells Clara about some of his past celebrations while a future version looks on. Set after The Day Of The Doctor.


**Birthday**

**Characters: **1st Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield, 3rd Doctor, Jo Grant, the Brigadier, 4th Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan, 5th Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough, 6th Doctor, Peri Brown, 7th Doctor, Ace McShane, 8th Doctor, Lucie Miller, Romana 2, K9, 9th Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, 10th Doctor, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, 11th Doctor, Clara Oswald, 12th Doctor, River Song, the Daleks, Cybermen, the Master (Delgado/Ainley/Simm), the Rani, Macra, Davros, Sontarans, Weeping Angels, Ice Warriors, Autons, Madame Kovarian, the Silence, Omega.

**Synopsis:** The Doctor has a birthday and Clara gets him to talk about some of his past ones.

**Spoilers:** Set after _The Day Of The Doctor._

"It's your birthday," Clara Oswald exclaimed as the TARDIS came a jolt and had clearly landed where it was meant to land. The Doctor looked up from the monitor that Clara was now standing closer to him.

"What?" the Doctor asked, oblivious to the previous statement that his companion had made. He had been distracted, his mind flashing back to a moment.

"_Enjoy this body while you can, Doctor," Omega had hissed in madness, as he had begun to dissipate in front of them all. "It's not long for this world. They're coming for you."_

_Both the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors along with Clara and Rose had watched as Omega's great scheme to take all of the Doctor's lives had backfired on him and on the fields of Trenzalore he was beginning to slip away._

_Both Clara and Rose said nothing but had given each other a grim look as they both knew that Omega's words had left a sting on each of their respective Doctors. Omega was now gone but his words had already made their impact._

"I said, it's your birthday, Doctor," Clara smiled as she noticed that he was a bit sombre looking. "You're thinking about what he said, aren't you?"

"Am not," the Doctor replied quickly as he snapped out of his reverie and looked at Clara. "You were saying?"

"It's your birthday," Clara repeated for the second time. "And the universe hasn't been in danger for the last five minutes. I think we should do something. How many birthdays have you had?"

"Lots," the Doctor smiled as they stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the most tranquil place in the whole universe. "You should tell me. You've been in my time stream after all."

"It's kind of hard to keep up with them all," Clara smiled as she took in the air and gentle snow of the planet she was now on. "This place is beautiful. What's it called?"

"The Eye Of Orion, one of the most peaceful places in the universe," the Doctor smiled as he tasted some of the snow that was falling ever so gently on his tongue.

"I like it," Clara said softly as she let some of the snow trickling down slip through her fingers, before adding brightly, "I've got an idea."

"I'm all ears, Clara," the Doctor as they found a nice place on the planet to sit down and take stock. "What is it?"

"Tell me about some of your birthdays," Clara said softly. "I mean I've seen some of them, nearly them all I think."

"But there are some you don't quite remember," the Doctor smiled as he sat on a large rock that managed not to be covered in snow but was still rather cold. "Okay, you get ten stories from my past selves and in return, I get one successful soufflé. Do we have a deal?"

"I can work with that," Clara smiled in delight as her mind began to race and wonder if the kitchen in the TARDIS had the right ingredients for a successful soufflé. "Now, tell me a story."

"Right then," the Doctor smiled as his mind began to think of the first story. "Here we go."

"_Susan!" the First Doctor had called out. It had been over an hour since she said she was going to retrieve a book from her room and the Doctor was starting to get a little worried._

"_Coming grandfather," Susan Foreman called out, while trying to suppress a little giggle as well. She was bad at keeping secrets. "Do you think this will work?"_

_The question hadn't been aimed for her grandfather but he had still heard it and he was now getting a little suspicious by the young girl's absence. Come to think of it, he had also realised that both Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright were nowhere to be seen as well. _

"_What's going on?" the First Doctor said a little impatiently as he was about to go down a corridor before being intercepted by Ian, who looked somewhat suspicious himself._

"_Close your eyes, Doctor," Ian said quickly, deliberately blocking him from going any further down the corridor._

"_Why Chesterton?" the First Doctor folded his arms as he tried to look but Ian kept blocking, no matter which side he would look towards. "What are you all hiding?"_

"_Just trust us this once, will you?" Ian answered back, sounding a tiny bit exasperated by the Doctor's suspicious attitude._

_Reluctantly, the Doctor closed his eyes and when Ian guided him back to the control room, he was then told by Susan to open his eyes._

"_Happy birthday, grandfather," Susan smiled in surprise, holding up a beautiful but small cake that had only one candle on it._

"_My dear, you really didn't need to," the First Doctor said, shocked by the surprise they had planned for him. "Has it really been a year since the last one?"_

"_You tell us, Doctor," Ian asked as he took the cake and passed it to the Doctor who looked at the one candle softly burning._

"_Well, don't just stand there, Doctor," Barbara said encouragingly. "Blow out the candle and make a wish but don't tell anyone or it might not come true."_

"_You humans and your customs," the First Doctor smiled before blowing out the candle and making a wish. "Well then, I shall make a wish."_

_He did as Barbara had advised him to do and made a wish without telling them. However the look on Susan's face gave him the indication that she knew what he had wished for. Neither of them spoke any more of it. Instead they sat down and enjoyed some cake and tea while discussing their adventures with cavemen and Daleks and Coal Hill amongst other things._

_It hadn't just been a year since the Doctor had celebrated his last birthday but also a year since a young woman had told them to leave Gallifrey in a Type 40 TARDIS. He didn't know who that woman was but he had a feeling that somewhere out in the universe, he would probably see her again. However, being in the TARDIS with his granddaughter and her two teachers was all the company he needed for his birthday at the moment._

"I think I was a part of a rival tribe," Clara replied, mentally scratching her head. "I remember seeing you, Susan, Ian and Barbara running from the distance to the TARDIS. That's one of many new memories. That's also one story down, Doctor. I even met Ian and Barbara when I got my job at Coal Hill."

"Okay, Clara Oswald, here's your second helping," the Doctor smiled and as he began to recall his second story, he could've sworn he heard a familiar whirring noise in the background.

"_You will be like us," the Cyberman had said, in what sounded like a rather tortured voice as it made a move to grab both Victoria and Jamie upon entering the TARDIS._

"_Both of you, get back," the Second Doctor shouted as Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield ended up going behind him. "I'm about to do something very reckless."_

"_You mean more reckless than letting that thing into the ship," Jamie exclaimed, looking for something he could use to strike the Cyberman with. The only thing in grabbing distance was a hat stand _

"_Resistance is impossible," the creature replied, trying to make a grab for the Second Doctor but found himself being hit hard with the hat stand across the head. It momentarily stunned the creature who then tried to grab Jamie before the Second Doctor placed himself in between the Cyberman and the Highlander._

"_I told you to stay back, Jamie," the Second Doctor said crossly, grabbing the hat stand off his friend. "You should've listened to me."_

"_I'm trying to help you, Doctor," Jamie protested as Victoria placed a hand on the man's shoulder and watched as the Doctor then used the base of the hat stand to shove the Cyberman back a few steps._

"_Victoria, press that lever now," the Second Doctor shouted as the Cyberman was trying to come towards him again._

"_Which one, Doctor?" Victoria asked, looking at the lever, before Jamie pointed out the one in question._

_The Cyberman tried to get closer to the Second Doctor but when Victoria pushed the lever, the doors of the TARDIS swung open and the Second Doctor only had moments to grab onto the console before the Cyberman flew out of the TARDIS._

"_Close," the Second Doctor shouted again, scrambling to hold on and within seconds, Victoria closed the doors and the three travellers fell to the ground._

"_That was a close one," Jamie said breathlessly as he helped himself and Victoria up from the ground._

"_Yes, Jamie, it was," the Second Doctor smiled mischievously as he pulled himself up and dusted himself off._

"_Are all your birthdays this dangerous?" Victoria asked as she too dusted her off._

"_Not always, Victoria," the Second Doctor smiled, before adding. "Just usually the memorable ones though."_

_Both Jamie and Victoria gave the Doctor a look as he then decided to make it up to his companions by taking them to a more relaxing spot for the remainder of this particular birthday._

"So even when they didn't have super speed, they could be lethal," Clara said grimly, thinking on some of the times one of her selves might have encountered them. "I'm glad I didn't get turned into one of them. Being a Dalek was bad enough."

"Ready for a third story?" the Doctor said as another whirring sound could be heard in the background.

Clara's smile was all the confirmation the Doctor to proceed with his next story.

_As birthdays went, this wasn't exactly what the Third Doctor had in mind for this particular celebration. He had been encouraged by Jo Grant and Captain Yates to go down the pub for a quaint gathering along with Sergeant Benton and the Brigadier and while he had been admittedly enjoying himself, something in the back of his mind had nagged him to return to UNIT. Unable to take no for an answer, Jo had decided to come with him while everyone else was getting merry on his behalf. It was then an old enemy had been waiting for them._

_The Master had pointed his TCE at the Doctor and Jo and instructed them to sit on two chairs. Within a matter of moments, both of them had been bound securely to the chairs as the Master was glossing over files._

"_You probably should've stayed at the party, Doctor," the Master smirked but he wasn't looking at either the Third Doctor or Jo, though he could hear them struggling with their bonds. "I wouldn't bother if I were you two. You're quite secure and I don't plan on staying much longer."_

"_Detaining you, are we?" the Third Doctor snapped crossly as he continued to struggle as Jo had managed to slip her hand into his pocket to retrieve a sonic screwdriver. Jo motioned for the Doctor to keep the Master distracted._

"_On the contrary, my dear Doctor," the Master smiled as he held up the files that he was reading. "I was merely just brushing up on UNIT's latest developments and planning a wonderful birthday surprise I think you might find most fascinating."_

"_Do you even know what that weapon might do if it's ever activated?" the Doctor snapped again as the Master began to thumb through some pages in the file. "There's a reason why it hasn't even been tested yet."_

"_Of course there is, Doctor," the Master smiled as he suddenly placed the file down and went towards Jo. "Hello Miss Grant. Aren't you a clever girl?"_

"_I don't know what you mean," Jo tried to sound innocent but aside from a sly smile, the Master yanked the sonic screwdriver she acquired and threw it out the window he had opened. "Oh!"_

_Jo had sounded defeated and the Master stroked her hair for a moment before turning his back on the both of them and picking up the file again._

"_Can't blame a girl for trying," Jo said, trying to sound bright and cheerful but she had sounded defeated and gave the Doctor an apologetic look instead._

"_Don't worry, Jo," the Doctor tried to reassure his companion._

"_I admire those who try, Miss Grant," the Master said and managed to sincerely sound like he had admired Jo's effort to best him. "Of course, tonight's your luck night. Both of you in fact."_

"_Oh and why's that?" the Third Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow in scepticism._

"_You get at least one night where I don't try to kill you, Doctor," the Master said, before picking up the file._

"_And you get one night where you make the right choice for once," a gruff sounding voice had called out to the Master. A gun was now pointed behind the renegade Time Lord's back. "Put the file down."_

"_If you insist, Brigadier," the Master said, admitting a kind of defeat. He had memorised most of the file and the rest he could make up as he went along. "You win this one."_

_The Master dropped the file to the floor but before the Brigadier could do anything else, the Master then dropped a smoke bomb, which created enough of a diversion to shove the Brigadier out of his way and throw himself out the window and flee from the soldiers being led by Yates and Benton._

_As the Doctor and Jo began coughing away, the smoke began to dissipate and the Brigadier managed to untie the both of them. Rubbing their hands from their restraints, they listened as the Brigadier had been told that the Master had once again escaped. However the surprising thing hadn't been the Master slipping out of UNIT's grasp yet again but the item that the Third Doctor had later found when alone in his laboratory. It was as if this birthday couldn't have gotten any stranger. _

"And then what?" Clara asked eagerly as she had some great ideas for a soufflé brimming in her head. The Doctor's stories were helpful in that regard as well.

"All right then, Clara Oswald," the Doctor smirked as he heard some more whirring noises in the background. "Here's your fourth story."

"_A little help, Doctor!"_

_Harry Sullivan didn't like to beg for help but he had gotten himself into quite a bind by asking the wrong question. He had asked a tribe whose name he couldn't even begin to announce on a mysterious planet that he had landed on with the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith the name of their god._

_His question had been of genuine curiosity but the tribe leader had sense a trace of scepticism in his voice and ordered his men to show the 'heretic' their god. Two of the tribesmen had grabbed Harry and tied his hands tightly in front of him with some vine while another two were holding Sarah Jane back as the Fourth Doctor was doing his best to not get grabbed by two other tribesmen as well as trying to get to Harry._

"_I am trying, Harry," the Fourth Doctor called out as he grabbed the leader's tribal staff and was using it to swat away his attackers._

"_Where are you taking him?" Sarah Jane asked, before kicking one of her assailants in the shins and shoving the other one off her._

"_He will see the God," the tribesman said icily, staring at both Sarah Jane and the Fourth Doctor in contempt. "As will you two heretics. You bring bad luck to our world. Seize them."_

"_We were only just passing through," the Fourth Doctor smiled, before using the staff to trip up one tribesman before winding the other and giving chase along with Sarah Jane towards Harry and his assailants._

"_We're not heretics," Harry said, struggling with his bonds as he was being pushed towards a gaping pit. Harry then saw what exactly was waiting for him below. He could also smell gas as could the tribe people and Sarah Jane "What is that thing?"_

"_Silence!" the tribe leader barked angrily before using a cloth to cover his mouth from the gas that becoming more apparent._

"_Macra," the Fourth Doctor answered for Harry upon getting a glimpse of the one that was in a pit that it was getting too big for._

"_Throw them in!" the tribe leader shouted as the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane were now surrounded by some more tribesmen._

_With the gas fumes becoming too much, all of them were starting to splutter and cough hysterically. The Doctor passed a bandanna for Sarah Jane to cover her nose and mouth and likewise did the same for himself, before slipping past Harry's captors and grabbing the doctor just as he was about to be thrown in._

_Harry didn't have time to say anything as the Doctor tied a bandanna around his mouth and nose before untying his hands._

_The tribe leader looked at the commotion furiously and tried to grab Sarah Jane who elbowed him out of her way as the Doctor and Harry pushed away the other tribesmen away. Seizing the opportunity, the three of them scrambled into a forest and back into the TARDIS, closing the door tightly behind them as they had been followed._

"_That was a bad idea," Sarah Jane exclaimed, pulling the bandanna off as the Doctor did the same and then Harry._

"_Yes, I've had better birthdays on that planet but perhaps I landed a century or two early in it's evolution cycle," the Doctor smiled as he began to set the controls._

"_Well, at least you two weren't almost eaten by a giant crab," Harry said, pulling the bandanna off his neck and fixing his cravat. "I think I've had enough with being almost eaten by seafood."_

"_Be lucky it wasn't one of Davros's other beasties, Harry," the Fourth Doctor said, slightly commiserating with his other companion._

"_Can we go back to UNIT now?" Harry asked. "I think the Brigadier has organised something for you."_

"_Harry!" Sarah Jane snapped, before looking at the Doctor. "That was supposed to be a surprise."_

"_Maybe I should bring us all back before Harry inadvertently tells me any more," the Doctor smiled as he set the controls for UNIT HQ._

_Sarah Jane laughed in response and Harry mumbled something and then watched as both the Doctor and Sarah Jane were staring at the monitor. Today had not been a great day for him to say things._

"Well, there goes my love of sea food," Clara said, visibly irked at the idea of one of the Doctor's former travelling companions, before thinking of something else. "Can I borrow a pen and paper?"

"Any reason why?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow as he gave Clara a small notebook and a fancy black biro.

"Keep telling me birthday hi-jinks," Clara replied as she began to doodle her first idea for a birthday soufflé. "And you'll find out soon enough."

"Very well," the Doctor said, sounding a little defeated as Clara made sure he was unable to actually peek at what she was doing with the pen and paper.

"_I don't very much like this dungeon, Doctor," the Master had signed as a man in pale yellow-cream clothing along with his two companions were now staring at him._

"_Perhaps you should've thought about that before," an Australian woman called Tegan Jovanka had said in her usual forthright manner._

"_I can handle this, Tegan," the Fifth Doctor smiled politely at his companion before staring at his enemy in the cell. "Where is Flavia?"_

"_Still on this miserable planet and even close by, Doctor," the Master smirked at his oldest adversary."Even I'm not going to risk killing the current president, am I?"_

"_I wouldn't be so sure," Vislor Turlough had said, rather unconvinced but he was looking at the Doctor instead of the Master. "Who's to say she hasn't been shrunk already?"_

"_The idea was tempting but she had been wily enough to prevent that," the Master smiled. "Of course, not wily enough to realise that there are some trap doors that even she doesn't know about."_

"_What do you mean?" Tegan asked, directing the question at both her friend and the man responsible for the murder of her aunt._

"_You're smart enough and I've said what I've said," the Master replied, getting bored of the interrogation. "But seeing as it's your birthday, old boy, I'll give you one more clue. The safest place for the President isn't the safest after all."_

_As the guard closed the cell door and the Master cackled away to himself, the Doctor then realised what his enemy had actually meant and made a mad dash._

"_Wait for us!" Tegan called out, motioning Turlough to follow as the Doctor scrambled past several guards and burst into Flavia's office._

"_Well, where is she?" Turlough asked, seeing that the office was empty and the Doctor was acting cryptic. "Doctor?"_

_They could hear some muffled sounds and scratching. At first Tegan thought it was from the walls but it turned out to be the floor and the Doctor pulled over a rug to reveal a trapdoor._

_Upon opening the door, Flavia looked up to see that the Doctor had been standing above her and she raised her hands to be pulled up. As the Doctor and Tegan helped Flavia up from the trap she had been placed in, an Ice Warrior had tried to grab her with it's pincers but Tegan had hit the creature with a garish looking vase and the Doctor then closed the door, trapping the Ice Warrior back down there._

"_I thought underground dungeons had been discouraged," the Doctor asked Flavia who was dusting herself off._

"_Usually, but in this circumstance, the Ice Warrior had been working with the Master. He trapped me down," Flavia exclaimed before realising. "Where is the Master?"_

"_In a dungeon -," the Fifth Doctor managed to say before a flustered looking guard came storming into the room._

"_He escaped. His TARDIS was hidden in the dungeon," the guard said, sounding out of breath. "He killed two of my men."_

"_I better go after him," the Doctor said and before either Flavia or the guard could protest, the Time Lord was determined to catch his best enemy. "Come on Tegan and Turlough."_

"_Just our luck," Turlough muttered as the three of them darted towards the TARDIS, stepped inside and dematerialised off Gallifrey._

_The Master had planned this perfectly. Flavia and the Ice Warrior had been a smokescreen. For this birthday, the Doctor and his companions were going to have to play a game of intergalactic hide and seek, whether they liked it or not. _

"It's all about the person," Clara muttered to herself as she scribbled out her first idea, which looked even more disastrous than some of her worst attempts of making a soufflé. "I think I got it."

"Are you even listening to me?" the Doctor asked, while attempting to take another peek at Clara's scribbling.

"Ah, not yet," Clara smiled, gently swatting his hand away. "The Master seems to have a warped sense of humour about birthday presents."

"So, you were listening then?" the Doctor folded his arm as more snow began to gently fall on both him and Clara.

"I can multitask," Clara admitted, not looking at the Doctor but heavily focused on drawing something.

"Good, let's walk and talk," the Doctor said as he rose from the rock he was sitting on and Clara did the same too.

"_Give this to him," a mysterious man had told Peri Brown as suddenly a capsule with blue fluid had been placed in her hands. "He'll know what to do with it."_

"_What does it do?" Peri desperately tried to ask for an answer but before she could, the man had taken his leave by pressing a button on a device strapped to his wrist and an Auton was aiming at her once again. Peri managed to run down a corridor to avoid being nearly killed._

_The day had taken a strange turned but when travelling with the Doctor, it usually did. She had managed to get him to admit that it was his birthday when he was acting oddly in the TARDIS during the morning and she made him a bet that if she could get him an outfit less colourful than the one he was wearing and he liked it, he would tell her his real age. _

_It seemed like a perfectly good idea at the time to land the TARDIS in the basement of a London department store and go clothes shopping. However neither Peri, nor the Doctor expected shopping window dummies to suddenly come to life and start attacking people._

_When both Peri and the Sixth Doctor hadn't been fleeing for their lives and locating something called the Nestene Consciousness, Peri had overheard someone muttering about 'this sort of thing happening again'. Peri hadn't had time to question it because she had managed to get seperated from the Doctor and then a strange man had given her some mysterious fluid before disappearing in front of her eyes._

_She needed to find the Doctor._

"_Peri," a strangled sound was heard coming from the corner and against her usual instincts, Peri ran towards the strangled sound instead of away from it. _

_She entered a room and there he was – the Doctor. Only there were a circular pit almost in the shape of a metallic paddling pool there with tentacles that were not only wrapped around her Doctor's neck, torso and legs, but they were also pulling him towards the pool._

"_Doctor, hold on!" Peri shouted, running towards him but at the same time trying her best to avoid the tentacles that were also coming towards her as well. "I think I got something."_

"_Anti-plastic," the Doctor managed to say in a choked sound as the tentacle around his neck was getting tighter. "Throw it in the pit."_

_Peri ran towards the pit, narrowing avoiding the tentacles that were coming for her but an Auton was also in her way and it was coming close enough to shoot. Opening the cork of the capsule, Peri got within reach of the pit and managed to throw in the anti plastic along with the Auton who was about to shoot her as well._

_The Nestene Consciousness managed to give a scream of sheer agony before it's tentacles retracted away from the Doctor and he fell onto the ground in a crumpled heap. Peri caught her breath for a moment before going over to help the Doctor._

"_Are you alright?" Peri asked, helping her friend up to his feet. _

"_Perfectly fine, Peri," the Sixth Doctor spluttered as he rubbed his neck and felt that it was going to be bruised for weeks after this. "Your timing was good though."_

"_Good? I saved your life, Doctor," Peri pointed out as she looked at the mess. "If it hadn't been for that anti plastic, you would've been dead."_

"_How did you get it, by the way?" the Sixth Doctor had been curious. "I certainly didn't have it on me."_

"_Some strange man with an English accent I've never heard of until now gave it to me," Peri replied as she tried to remember her mystery man. "He said you'd know what to do with it. We'll have to thank him the next time we see him. You especially."_

"_Yes, Peri, we will," the Sixth Doctor said, surveying the chaos around him. "But now I feel we should get on to another matter."_

"_What?" Peri asked, looking confused before realising. "Oh yeah, you didn't tell me how old you really are."_

"_You still haven't found me an outfit I like more than what I'm wearing," the Doctor smiled, pulling on his colourful jacket._

"_I think lifesaving trumps clothes shopping," Peri pointed out. "Wouldn't you?"_

"_Perhaps so but let's see if you're successful twice this day," the Doctor smiled again, taking his companion's hand._

"_Oh, alright then, just this once," Peri smiled back, taking his hand as the two of them left the basement and decided to do some clothes shopping for the Doctor. She only hoped that the department store in question didn't sell fancy dress costumes or Hawaiian shirts. The Doctor was colourful enough as it was at the moment._

"And I thought the bowties were strange," Clara mused, satisfied with her drawing as she looked at the Doctor. They hadn't actually moved since getting up from the rocks they were sitting on. "Some of your past selves did dress questionably."

"I was young," the Doctor replied. "And it was cool back then. I wouldn't get away with it now of course."

"I'm surprised you did back then," Clara said gently. "Let's walk back to the TARDIS. I think I've got the perfect soufflé for you."

"_You stupid little girl!"_

_The Rani hated when a plan fell apart and she certainly hated when the reason why it felt apart was because of a certain man and his usually female companion._

_The Seventh incarnation of the Doctor had chosen to celebrate his birthday on a quaint little planet with his companion Ace McShane and things had been going well until he noticed how drone like the waiting staff at a particular restaurant had been. When he learned that the restaurant had been bought by a mysterious owner, the Doctor then decided his birthday celebrations could wait and he decided to investigate._

_That had then resulted in the Rani's downfall. She had on the previous night managed to get her drone like minion to kidnap the dashing prince of this planet and had strapped him down with the intention of making him her sleeper agent. She had barely even begun to start the process before being belted by a baseball bat from a short young girl wearing a ponytail and a jacket that looked about three sizes too long for her._

"_You little brat," the Rani hissed as Ace managed to threaten her into a corner as the Doctor tended to the captive prince. "You've ruined everything."_

"_Shut up," Ace hissed at the Rani, threatening to strike her again. "Stay back!"_

"_No, that would be you, Rani," the Seventh Doctor said in a dark tone as he removed the gag off the Prince and began to free him from the gurney he had been bound to._

"_Thank you, Doctor," the Prince smiled and then looked at Ace with a sense of admiration and something else. "And Miss?"_

"_Ace," the Doctor said, before throwing a pair of handcuffs to his companion who then placed them on the Rani._

"_I am Prince Caspian, heir to this world," the Prince smiled as some official guards had then stormed into the laboratory. "And whatever you two desire, you shall have it."_

"_How did you know I was here, Doctor?" the Rani asked in fury, before being handed over to two guards. "I had planned this so carefully. Get your hands off me, you filth."_

"_Not carefully enough," the Seventh Doctor said softly as he watched the Rani being escorted out of the building. The Doctor then turned to the Prince. "Be careful with her. She has a habit of turning a dire situation into an advantage."_

"_She'll be sent to somewhere where even she won't be able to use her talents again," the Prince said firmly before changing the subject. "Because you two rescued me, I would like to hold a feast in your honour. I won't take no for an answer."_

"_Can we, Professor?" Ace smiled, lowering her baseball bat and looking at the Prince with fondness. "Besides we still haven't finished celebrating your birthday."_

"_I suppose we can, Ace," the Doctor smiled before turning to Caspian. "Yes, we'll be delighted to take you up on your offer."_

"_Wonderful," Caspian smiled at both the Doctor and Ace and with that, they were all lead back to the palace where the Time Lord ended up having one of the most memorable evenings of his life._

"So, this soufflé, I can't wait to see what you're going to conjure up, Clara," the Doctor said, before adding, "not even a sneak peek?"

"Nope," Clara smiled as they were getting closer to the TARDIS. "Three more to go, Doctor. Keep talking."

"All right then," the Doctor said as he heard more whirring sounds and was surprised that Clara wasn't taking much notice of them.

_Defeat was not something in his years that Davros had become accustomed and this was one defeat he pretty much detested all the more. He had planned to turn the birthday of the Doctor into something that would haunt the Time Lord for many years to come but fate had dealt him a nasty hand._

"_Retreat, retreat," one of the last few Daleks had been forced to say. They had been outnumbered by some Time Lord footmen, led by a light haired man with a Northern sounding accent and were forced to teleport back into the same spaceship that was hovering over Gallifrey._

"_You chose the wrong time to visit my planet, Davros," the Eighth Doctor had managed to replied over a communication system with the Citadel of the planet. Davros searched for a visual link and then saw that the Time Lord wasn't alone._

_His current travelling companion – a brash woman named Lucie Miller had been with him as well as the President Romana, still in her second incarnation along with a metal dog known as K9. It had been the four of them and a few lousy footmen who had scuppered his plans._

"_You haven't won just yet, Doctor," Davros insisted. "This is only a retreat. The next time we'll see each other, you'll be lucky if you even have Gallifrey and that goes for you, Madame President as well."_

"_You'd be advised to stay away, Davros," Romana responded, giving the Dalek creator an icy stare. "The next time you land here, I will show you no mercy."_

_Davros had considered Romana's words for a moment before switching all communication off. He could longer see or hear them but with his few Daleks scuttling in the background, he realised that he had no choice but to get away from Gallifrey as quickly as possible. The Doctor and his friends had caught him at a disadvantage here and Davros was forced to accept it. The next time however, he would make them all regret undermining him._

"_He's gone?" Lucie Miller looked at the screen and starting banging it in an attempt of trying to bring back the picture. "Come on, you stupid thing."_

"_Lucie, he cut off all communication," the Eighth Doctor said softly, trying to get his companion away from the computer. "He's probably somewhere else now licking his wounds and planning his next move."_

"_Undoubtedly," Romana said drily, folding her arms. "Either way, I should warn Leela and the guards to keep an extra eye out."_

"_Affirmative, mistress," K9 replied brightly, twitching his ears. Lucie smiled at the metallic dog._

"_Are you sure we can't keep him, Doctor?" Lucie smiled, rubbing K9's head with affection, before looking at both the Doctor and Romana._

"_I think he's needed here more than in the TARDIS, Lucie," the Eighth Doctor replied before bending down to look at his old companion. "Aren't you, boy?"_

"_Affirmative," K9 said. "My function on Gallifrey is of great important. The mistress and Leela would be lost without me."_

"_That's one way of putting it," Romana said softly, finding herself staring at the metal dog with affection, before turning her attention back to the Doctor. "Besides we haven't finished your celebrations, Doctor."_

"_Oh, do we have to?" the Eighth Doctor asked as he rose to his feet._

"_Yes!" both Romana and Lucie replied in unison, taking the Eighth Doctor by the arms and leading him out of the communication room with K9 cheerfully following in front of them._

_It was one of the last moments the Eighth Doctor found himself thinking about as he was now on Karn, being forced into making an almighty choice. Cass was now lying dead on a slab and the Sisterhood had conjured something he needed in more ways that one. He took it all, knowing that it would hurt and would also change him forever._

_Physician, heal thyself. _

"Do you hear that noise?" Clara asked, suddenly taking notice of the whirring sounds. At least a few more of them had been heard.

"I probably should go look," the Doctor said knowing full well what the sounds were. "Besides it'll give you some time to make this soufflé I'm dying to taste."

"Okay, then," Clara agreed but with some reluctance. "But you can tell me the last two stories before you go check."

"Or I can tell them as I'm checking," the Doctor smiled, pulling out a mobile phone he had been given a long time ago.

"Okay, then," Clara smirked as she pulled out her own phone. "You walk and talk and I'll create and listen."

"Be back in eleven," the Doctor smirked as he began to walk and Clara headed into the TARDIS and found the kitchen.

Luckily the TARDIS was being a lot more co-operative than usual so she placed her phone on a surface, pressed the loudspeaker button and began to look for ingredients and utensils while the Doctor began to his ninth story.

"_Explain to me again what I did wrong?" Jack Harkness asked cheekily before being shoved into a rotten, grimy cell with the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler. As the door locked, he turned to his new friends and asked again. "No, really, what was it?"_

"_I think it was the bit where you compared yourself to Robin Hood actually," Rose Tyler replied in a matter of fact sort of way. "Everything else had been going fine before then."_

"_I didn't say I was him, just like him," Jack replied, defending himself._

"_That was enough, Jack," the Ninth Doctor pointed. "More than enough."_

"_So, what do we do now, then?" Rose said, trying the door again, before turning to the Doctor. "Sonic it?"_

"_It doesn't do wood," the Doctor said and sounded slightly embarrassed by it as well. Both the Ninth Doctor and Rose were staring at the door._

"_Well, that's rubbish," Rose said, before turning to ask Jack. "Got any secret weapon we can use?"_

_Before Jack could say anything, a cold stone hand gripped his throat and emerging from the shadows, a very familiar figure suddenly made itself known to the trio in the cell._

"_Kind of got my hands full here," Jack croaked as the creature tightened it's grip around his throat._

"_Don't blink," the Ninth Doctor instructed, scanning the creature with a sonic screwdriver. "Keep looking at it. If you blink, you're dead."_

"_What the hell is that thing?" Rose asked, nervously following the Doctor's instruction not to blink. She looked at both the creature and Jack._

"_Weeping Angel," Jack tried to say but the creature's grip was tightening on his throat and had grabbed his arm with it's other hand before Jack tossed over his gun on the floor. "Shoot it!"_

_Both the Doctor and Rose edged closer towards the Weeping Angel, who seemed to be tilting it's positions while keeping a hold on Jack. Rose was then the one who had gotten nearest to the gun._

"_I've got it," Rose said quietly, bending down to grab the gun while keeping an eye on the Angel and Jack. "I'm not exactly a gun expert here."_

"_I'll do it," the Doctor said. He didn't like the idea of killing another creature but at the same time, he knew that if he didn't, then Jack's life would be in danger. He was also behind the Angel, who had tilted his head to look at both him and Rose while holding on to Jack._

_Rose tossed the gun to the Doctor and he managed to catch it in time while keeping eye contact with the Angel. Sensing it was in danger, the Angel released Jack and shoved him towards Rose but before it could attack the Doctor, it had been shattered into pieces by the ray from Jack's gun._

"_Good shot," Jack said admiringly, picking himself and Rose from the ground._

"_Something I'd prefer not to do," the Doctor said softly, before throwing the gun towards Jack._

"_Well then, birthday boy," Jack smiled before shooting the cell door down. "Let's get the hell out of here. I think we might have a five minute head start."_

_The Doctor said nothing but led the way as he managed to run out of the cell with both Rose and Jack before heading out to the courtyard and into the TARDIS before the guards could seize any of them again. This had not been the birthday he had hoped for, but the looks on both Rose and Jack's faces did make him realise there was still a certain thrill in the element of danger he found himself in nonetheless._

"Fantastic," Clara murmured. Her face was covered with flour as preparation for the soufflé was nicely getting underway. "This could be my best one yet."

"It was fantastic, yes," the Doctor smiled, talking to Clara on the phone as he was getting closer to his destination. "I really liked that leather jacket. I probably could've been a bit more adventurous with the jumpers though."

"I was talking about the soufflé, actually," Clara said, wiping some egg yolk from her face before placing the soufflé in the oven to cook. "One more to go now, Doctor. I think you can tell me before this rises."

"Okay, last story," the Doctor said, his voice sounding slower as he was face to face with his past in more ways than one.

"_I hope you know what you're doing, spaceman," Donna Noble said as she grabbed a hold of the Tenth Doctor's hand along with Martha Jones, putting her faith in her friend once again._

_Seconds later, they went from being in a UNIT base to being on a small spaceship with a lone Sontaran._

"_It worked!" the Tenth Doctor smiled brightly and it was enough to get the lone Sontaran to turn around and see that there was some company on his ship._

"_How did you get on board?" the Sontaran asked in anger, pointing it's gun at both the Tenth Doctor and Martha._

"_Where's Donna?" Martha panicked, realising that they were a person short and then looked worried about the Sontaran that was now pointing a gun at both of them._

"_You should be more concerned about your own fate, human," the Sontaran growled at Martha, before holding up the flash drive that it had stolen from UNIT HQ. "Looking for these?"_

"_No, we were just looking for some tips," the Tenth Doctor said dryly, keeping his focus on the Sontaran, gun and flash drive as a familiar face was creeping up behind with a hammer in her hand. He tried not to smile. "I was thinking of giving the TARDIS a makeover but then again, I do love the coral."_

"_Yeah, coral is good," Martha smiled brightly, trying to keep the Sontaran's focus on them. It was working._

"_You think I'm stupid?" the Sontaran snapped at both of them. "That I don't see things clearly?"_

"_I'm sure you'll be a great general someday," the Tenth Doctor retorted. "But I want that flash drive back now. Those UNIT files are not going to win your battle with the Rutans."_

"_I'll be the one deciding that, Time Lord," the Sontaran smirked, placing the flash drive down on a surface before aiming it's gun a little higher at both the Doctor and Martha. "While you and the girl will be obliterated."_

"_Not today, mate," a booming voice snapped and before the Sontaran could turn around, a red headed woman had whacked his probic vent with a hammer and he crumpled into a heap on the ground._

"_Just in time," the Doctor smiled at his fiery companion as did Martha.._

"_Your hotwiring skills leave a lot to be desire for, spaceman," Donna smiled, holding onto the hammer and picking up the flash drive before walking over towards her friends. "Just tell us you can get us home in one piece."_

"_Why don't we find out?" the Doctor smiled and within seconds, they had left the Sontaran spaceship and landed back in UNIT HQ._

"_I think next time, maybe the TARDIS is the better way to go," Martha said, finding the use of teleportation not so great for her stomach. The Doctor handed her the flash drive. "I'll make sure Colonel Mace gets this back."_

"_Might be a good idea if he puts it somewhere safe this time," Donna advised, smiling at the UNIT doctor._

"_I'll make sure it's a top priority," Martha smiled, before opening the door of her office in a bid to get the Doctor and Donna to leave it with her. "After you two come with me."_

"_What for?" the Tenth Doctor asked, sounding a little suspicious. "I'm not really great with paperwork, Martha."_

"_It's not paperwork, you big dumbo," Donna smiled affectionately before ushering him out of the office._

"_It's not?" the Tenth Doctor raised an eyebrow and looked at both of his companions with more suspicions, before realising. "I told you, I didn't want a fuss. I don't even count them nowadays. It's just a number."_

"_Too bad, Doctor," Martha smiled, before joining Donna to leading him out of the office and into a big hall. "There's a lot of people here who want to see you and besides, it's your birthday, you have to. Happy birthday, Doctor."_

"_Happy birthday, spaceman," Donna smiled and before the Doctor could attempt to refuse them, he had been brought into a hall where there was a lot of faces from his past he had seen. Faces he had long since left but never had forgotten and ones that had never forgotten him too. As birthdays went, it was one of the best ones he had ever had. Even the bit involving a flash drive stealing Sontaran had added to the occasion._

"That is a lot of birthdays," Clara said softly, finding herself distracted, before realising that the soufflé needed to be taken out of the oven. As she took the soufflé out of the oven and placed in on a table, Clara's mind went to another place. "All these lives you've lived. The things you've seen. All of time and space. I still don't know how old you are."

Clara expected a witty comeback from her friend but instead there was silence down the end of the line and Clara began to worry.

"Doctor?" Clara asked softly. "Are you still there? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Clara," the Doctor replied. "I found what I was looking for. Be back in two ticks."

Before Clara could say anything else, the Doctor hung up the phone and then looked at his past. In the coldest but most serene area of the Eye of Orion, the Doctor was standing in between his former selves. To his left were his First to Fifth incarnations and to his right were his Tenth to Sixth incarnations. None of them said a word to each other but they all gave each other a knowing look as they stared out into the furthest reaches of space from where they were standing. They knew why they were here and what drew them and it didn't need saying. The looks that each incarnation would give each other said more than enough.

This lasted for a few more minutes and without saying a word, the Eleventh Doctor watched as each one of his incarnations began to walk away and head off in their respective TARDISes. When his previous incarnation was the last to leave, he let out a sigh of relief, unaware that he was being watched.

From a distance not too far away, another TARDIS had landed there in secret, cloaked in invisibility, so it could neither seen nor heard by anyone else. A woman with curly strawberry blonde hair had stepped out of the vessel, accompanied by an older man with light grey hair and a Scottish accent. Both of them were now standing still, watching as the man with the purple tweed jacket and bowtie was heading back to his own TARDIS.

"You know, sweetie, you could've joined your other selves," River Song said with a hint of nonchalance in her voice. "It is after all, your birthday as much as it is theirs."

"Maybe next year," the Twelfth Doctor replied, watching his former self being met by a concerned looking Clara. "I think this year, he should enjoy without knowing what's to come."

"But your other selves?" River was about to ask before realising it was best not to venture there. "If you insist, darling. Happy birthday."

"Thank you, River," the Twelfth Doctor smiled at his wife, before opening the TARDIS door and ushering her inside. "Until the next one."

The TARDIS whirred in the background, becoming somewhat visible as it left the Eye of Orion. The Twelfth Doctor and River would find themselves heading back to 1894 London where Clara, along with her new boyfriend and the Paternoster Gang would hold him a not so surprising birthday party. He had tried to dissuade his companions but River had made sure that he had been ignored on this occassion.

"You took your time," Clara smiled brightly. She had stepped back inside the TARDIS and when the Doctor had entered the vessel and closed the door behind him, he noticed that she was standing there with a soufflé in her hands. "Are you okay?"

"It's blue," the Doctor pointed at the soufflé that actually looked quite perfect. "TARDIS blue even. How did you manage that?"

"Your machine and I came to a truce," Clara said, placing the TARDIS blue coloured soufflé on a blanket that she had placed on the ground. "Plus one of your shelves in the kitchen has an impressive selection of food colourings."

Clara had prepared it like a picnic set with forks and knives and some cups of tea and a teapot to match. Impressed by this, the Doctor sat on one side of the blanket, took a fork and knife as well as a sip of tea and Clara had sat on the other side and did the same thing.

As the two of them began to tuck into the soufflé, which had cooled a bit and enjoyed, Clara found herself wondering something else.

"What was it you were looking for, Doctor?" Clara asked, taking one last bite of her piece of the soufflé.

"I was looking for what was staring at me the whole time," the Doctor smiled cryptically, deciding that he could explain it to Clara about his former selves later. "On the best day of them all."

How old are you, exactly?" Clara asked, genuinely curious to know for certain.

"Spoilers," the Doctor winked, finishing off his soufflé and downing the last contents of his tea, before standing up and helping Clara pick up the blanket and everything else and placing them in a corner to be picked up later on.

"Well, however old you really are, happy birthday, Doctor," Clara smiled as the Doctor was now looking at the monitor and choosing their next destination.

"Until the next one, Clara," the Doctor smiled again and with that, the TARDIS began to dematerialise away from the Eye of Orion, unaware that it was observed from afar by someone else.

They had been watching for a while and while none of them had noticed his Twelfth incarnation along with the woman they had stolen and fashioned as a weapon against him, the Silence stared as the Eleventh Doctor and his TARDIS had disappeared from the planet. Of course, they weren't alone as two others were with them, both of whom were wearing eye drives to retain their memories of the Silence.

"He fooled us," Madame Kovarian had said bitterly, which the man who kept morphing every now and then into a skeletal figure assumed was partly on the behalf of her employers.

"He has a habit of doing that," the Master replied, in a much calmer voice as he glanced at both Madame Kovarian and the Silence. He could tell that they still didn't trust him. Not that it mattered for now. "Still, he won't see it coming."

"You better hope so, Master," Madame Kovarian replied, giving him a stern look. "I'd hate for our alliance to come to such an abrupt ending."

"I'm sure you'd be devastated by such a thing," the Master muttered sarcastically. The truth was that he was starting to grow tired of both the eye patch woman and her employers. "Besides, you were the ones who said he was going to fall at Trenzalore, didn't you?"

"It's believed so, yes," Kovarian looked at the Master with suspicion and the Silence themselves began to twitch nervously, almost as though they were ready to pounce.

"Then let's give him the birthday he'll never forget," the Master smirked, seizing a chance to assert some control into the situation at hand.

"Finally, an idea of yours with an appeal," Madame Kovarian smirked back at him and with that, they began to walk towards a ship which had also been cloaked in invisibility to take their leave from the Eye of Orion. As far as the Master, Madame Kovarian and the Silence were concerned, the Doctor was going to get the birthday he's never forget.

_Happy birthday, Doctor. Splendid chap. All of them._

- The End -


End file.
